Retrospective exhibitions hinge on the provenance of an artist's work. Galleries and museums rely on it for loans and acquisitions. Collectors depend on it to confirm ownership and flag theft. Artists lean on it to prevent fraud. Fifteen years from now, will you remember where you kept that piece of paper?

Without a ledger tracking how hands have changed, ownership becomes difficult to defend. There are countless stories of old masterworks resurfacing in new collections with no formal record of who held them before. It's a story increasingly rare in the West, but still common across Africa.

We’re building a continental ledger that preserves the history of African Art, beginning with Nigeria, and with privacy as our top priority.

For decades, West African art has moved through the world with no reliable record of where it's been, who's held it, or whether it's real. We're closing that gap, one artwork at a time. The Sankofa Repository is a private provenance database, tracing where art has travelled and who it has touched across the sector. Only you, your dealer, and the artist will ever know where a piece lives. Our NDA serves you, not us.

Best,

Timilehin Songonuga & Ebuka Onwunali

Co-Founders

A letter from our founders